Spotlight on: 2016 Reuters Middle East Investment Summit

The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority is studying allowing companies to issue bonds with shorter maturities, authority chief Sherif Samy told Reuters. The shortest bond maturity at the moment is 13 months, he added, but the authority is looking to allowing bond maturity of “a few months,” to accommodate leasing, microfinance, and seasonal industries. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing technical assistance, he added, noting that around two to three months are needed to complete implementation.

The austerity drive in Saudi is pressuring people’s ability to buy homes — and unlike here in Egypt, it’s driving down prices of houses in some segments by almost a third, Reuters reports Cuts to public sector allowances, raising fees and taxes are hurting consumer disposable incomes, the local JLL boss says, and slowing government efforts to boost homeownership. The shortage of low- and middle-income housing is estimated at 1 mn homes, a figure which could increase because of Saudi Arabia’s young and growing population.

The Kuwait Finance House is looking to manage international bond issuances, sukuk, and securitization for Kuwait and its GCC neighbours, CEO Mazen Al Nahed told Reuters. Kuwait’s largest Islamic bank arranged 51% of the USD 2.393 bn raised through securitization to manage the country’s budget deficit. The bank is in regular meetings with GCC countries to discuss bond issuances, he says.

Tunisia is set to issue projects to international investors valued at USD 50 bn as it looks to create job opportunities and maintain stability, Tunisian Investment Minister Fadhel Abdelkefi told Reuters. The projects include construction of a new deep-water port at Enfidha in northern Tunisia to desalination plants and energy-generating projects, he adds, and will be announced at an international investment conference next month.

Algeria is accelerating diversification of its oil-dependent economy in the coming year, following a cut in state subsidies to offset lower energy earnings, the head of the Algerian Parliament’s finance committee Mahdjoub Bedda told Reuters.